A Midcentury Checkup 



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VERY STRIKING CHANGES have occurred 

 in the forest situation in Minnesota during the 

 . past 50 years. 



Originally, Minnesota is supposed to have had 

 f about 31.5 million acres of forest out of a total land 

 1 area of 51.2 million acres. At the beginning of the 

 I 20th century, large areas in the North were still occu- 

 pied by virgin forest. Dozens of large sawmills were 

 operating around Duluth and along the Mississippi 

 and St. Croix Rivers. Lumber and logs were being 

 exported to nearby States. Total cut in 1899 was 

 reported to be 2.3 billion board-feet. 



By 1926 the accessible virgin timber had been 

 largely harvested. Forest fires, especially in 1908, 

 1910, and 1918, had left serious scars. Lumber pro- 

 duction had dropped to around 0.5 billion feet per 

 year. Today only a few scattered remnants of the 

 virgin forest remain (fig. 1). 



Significant restoration activities started during the 

 1930's, but effects were not yet in evidence when the 

 first forest survey was completed in 1936. At that 

 time the forest area had shrunk to 19.6 million acres, 

 of which part was unavailable for timber production. 

 Between 1936 and 1953 substantial progress was 

 made in reducing losses from forest fires. Large areas 

 of cutover land were incorporated in public forests, 

 and many denuded areas were planted. Some in- 

 dustrial forests were started, and public programs 

 were initiated to stimulate improved management of 

 farm woodlands and other privately owned tracts. 

 The current forest survey, finished in 1953, gives a 

 complete picture of present forest conditions and, by 

 comparison with the previous one of 1936, gives a 

 basis for observing trends. The following are some 

 of the notable features. 



Forest-type areas: 



Pine 



.Spruce-fir 



Conifer swamp 



Upland hardwood 



Lowland hardwood 



.\spen-grass-brush 



Nonproductive and other ' . 



Total 





1936 



1953 



Original 

 (million 



survey 

 (million 



survey 

 {million 



acres) 



acres) 



acres) 



5.8 



1.6 



1.3 



6.3 



1.1 



1.2 



6.1 



2.5 



2.0 



8.4 



1.9 



2.0 



2.0 



.6 



1. 1 





10. 4 



10.5 



2.9 



1.5 



1.2 



31.5 



19.6 



19.3 



Growing stock area: ^,^^ , ^,^^^^ 



^ rhousand Thousand 



.Sawtimber stands: acres acres 



Softwood types 644 548 



Hardwood types 876 1 , 469 



Poletimber stands: 



.Softwood types 2, 077 1, 855 



Hardwood types 2, 340 3, 426 



Total 5, 937 7, 298 



Density of young stands: 



Medium- and well-stocked seedlings and 



saplings 4, 106 4, 646 



Poorly stocked seedlings and saplings. . . 4, 289 1, 671 



Total 8,395 6,317 



Area of nonstocked commercial forest land: 



Upland 1.887 1,748 



.Swamp 1, 881 2, 735 



Total. 3,768 4,483 



1936 1953 



Original ^ survey survey 



(billion (billion (billion 



Timber volume: bd.-Jt.) hd.-ft.) bd.-ft.) 



Total sawtimber 126.0 11.3 12.5 



Softwood 90. 6. 3 5. 



Hardwood 36. 5. 7. 5 



Billion Billion Billion 



cu.ft. cu.Jl. cu.ft. 



Total timber 41.5 6. 4 7. 2 



Softwood 29. 3. 2. 8 



Aspen 1. 5 1.8 



Other hardwood 12. 5 1.9 2. 6 



Growth-cut (drain) — allowable cut: ' ,,.,,. ,,.,,. 



^ ' Million Million 



.\11 softwood: cu.ft. cu ft. 



.\nnual growth 99 118 



.\nnual cut (drain) 60 78 



.Allowable annual cut 49 96 



.\11 hardwood: 



.\nnual growth 179 267 



.\nnual cut (drain) 50 76 



.\llowable annual cut 108 151 



' In 1936 and 1953, this includes approximately 0.4 million 

 acres of land reserved from timber production, some of which 

 IS productive timberland. 



2 Conservatively estimated at 5 M board-feet (or 20 cords) 

 per acre for softwood types and 3.5 M board-feet (or 15 cords) 

 per acre for hardwood types. 



' This and other Forest .Survey terms are defined in tiic 

 appendix. 



Minnesota's Forest Resources 



